How good was Gallup’s vetting of the questioners at the 2d Presidential debate held at Hofstra on Long Island? One explicitly feminist question was asked by undecided voter Catherine Fenton: And it’s Katherine Fenton, who has a question for you. QUESTION: In what new ways to [do] you intend to rectify the inequalities in the […]
Author Archive | Jim Lindgren
Over 30% of President Obama’s 2009-2011 Gross Income Came From Foreign Sources
I find it strange that the Obama campaign would be making so much of Romney’s income from foreign sources when Obama’s foreign source income appears to be a much bigger percentage of his income over the last few years. Of course, one can’t tell for sure because Mitt Romney has not released his 2009 […]
“If you want this robe, you’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands”: Justices Retiring Later, Often Waiting for a Change in Presidents
As people discuss whether Justice Roberts avoided politics by siding with the left side of the Court or instead yielded to political pressure to change his vote, I want to point to an article that I posted on SSRN a couple of days ago. It shows that Supreme Court justices do tend to act politically […]
Justices Time Their Retirements According to Political Party
Do U.S. Supreme Court justices tend to try to time their retirements to help the political party of the president who appointed them? University of Chicago sociologist Rafe Stolzenberg and I have an article in the journal Demography that finally answers that question: Yes, justices do act politically when deciding whether to retire or take […]
Peter Gleick’s Possible Involvement in Drafting Fake Heartland Document: Either Not Investigated or the Relevant Results Not Released
After an investigation commissioned by the Pacific Institute, Peter Gleick has been reinstated as its President. The Institute released a carefully worded statement saying that the investigation supported what Gleick had said “regarding his interaction with the Heartland Institute.” Gleick had eventually admitted that he had pretended to be a board member of Heartland to […]
Can the Consent of Individuals or States Enlarge Federal Power?
Philip Hamburger has posted on SSRN the proofs of his article, “Unconstitutional Conditions: The Irrelevance of Consent,” which will be published soon by the Virginia Law Review. Although the article does not address the current healthcare litigation, I want to draw attention to it, because its thesis is relevant to a question posed by the […]
Hendrik Hertzberg Endorses Supreme Court Term Limits
In the latest New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg endorses 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, relying on a paper that Steve Calabresi and I published in 2006. Hertzberg considers this reform the one good idea put forward by the now-defunct campaign of Texas Governor Rick Perry: This ingenious idea has been kicking around in legal […]
AP: 4 of 6 Republicans Hold Seats in Wis. Recall; Republicans Retain Control of Wis. Senate
According to the AP, 4 Republican state senators in Wisconsin have been re-elected, while 2 have lost their seats to Democrats. The Republicans thus continue to hold a majority in that chamber of the Wisconsin legislature. The last race to be called was in the 8th District. Twelve Milwaukee precincts seem to have been withheld […]
Congratulations to Glenn for 10 Years of Instapundit
Glenn Reynolds is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Instapundit by doing what he always does: keeping us up to date on what is going on in the world. Not only is Instapundit the first place I turn to every day for links to news and commentary, but Glenn’s efforts have meant a lot to me […]
After Debt Deal, Sunday Night Dow Futures Up 178 Points
Just before 9pm ET on Sunday night, Dow Jones Industrial futures are up 178 points and S & P 500 futures are up 20 points. UPDATE: On Monday in Asia (Sunday night in the US), the stock markets in Japan, China, Australia, and South Korea are up 1.3% to 1.9%. 2D UPDATE (Monday afternoon): Though […]
Following Up Eugene’s Post on Nikki Haley’s Race: A Picture
To follow up on Eugene’s post on Governor Nikki Haley’s voter registration, here is Haley’s picture from Wikipedia: Nikki Haley (Wikipedia)
Norwegian Terror Suspect Arrested [UPDATE: Motives May Be Nationalist and Anti-Islamic]
A suspect has been arrested in the Norwegian terror attacks. According to VGNett, his name is Anders Behring Breivik: UPDATE: An automated Google translation of a story at VG Nett (the web site of a national newspaper in Norway) includes this passage (sorry, I don’t read Norwegian, so I can’t vouch for the translation): Critical […]
Credit for Oslo Attacks Retracted
A couple of hours ago, the New York Times reported that a terrorist group took credit for the attack: A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. […]
Wisconsin Senate Recall Primary Results [Update: All the Regular Democrats Win]
If you want to follow the results of Wisconsin’s Senate recall primary, you might go to the Journal-Sentinel’s site. Early results show that the “real” Democratic candidates are beating the Republican-sponsored “fake” or “protest” Democratic candidates by about a 2-to-1 margin, except in District 14, where the real Democrat Fred Clark leads Rol Church by […]
Philip Hamburger Manuscript: “Consent No Cure for Unconstitutional Conditions”
Professor Philip Hamburger of Columbia University appreciated the scholarly comments he received from Volokh Conspiracy readers last year when I blogged his Privileges or Immunities article. He therefore has now asked me to seek comments on another manuscript, this one called “Consent No Cure for Unconstitutional Conditions.” The abstract summarizes: Although consent is said to […]